DEADLY TIES by Vicki Hinze

Lisa Harper's father was killed. Feeling desperate Lisa's mother, Annie, marries Dutch Hauk who turns out to be an abusive monster. He has plans for Lisa that will be a fate worse than death. But before he can do anything, Annie gives over custody of Lisa to a trusted friend. Dutch has made it his mission to keep Lisa and Annie apart. He's successful for a lot of years. But now Lisa and Annie have an opportunity to be a family except they didn't anticipate how far Dutch would go.

Mark Taylor is living with a burden he can't seem shake. Being a former Special Ops officer, he's been watching over Annie and Lisa. Mark has secretly loved Lisa from the time they met but he just doesn't feel he deserves her love. He has told her more about himself than anyone else. But her's afraid of failing her. When Lisa finds herself in trouble both Mark and Lisa need to muster all the strength they can and have trust in the One that will never leave them or forsake them.

Great Story! This author pulled you into the story right from the start. I haven't read anything by this author so didn't know what to expect. But this tale had it all, romance, mystery, suspense, intrigue. I must say that the subject matter was difficult to read about although Human Trafficking is a very real problem. This author handled it honestly without being overly descriptive. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in the story. Mark was a great hero and I really liked the interplay between him and his old team. Sometimes intense but with a lot of humor interjected. The villains were written in such a way that you felt threatened by them. Some suspense stories don't really come across that way but you certainly hated these villains. Lisa was a great character. Though she had lots of hardships in her youth she hadn't completely lost her faith. She was still bubbly and sweet. I liked watching Mark and Lisa together. I also liked the way the author always brought the reader around to the fact that God walks with us through our darkest times, that He's always there and using that circumstance to make us stronger for something that may come up in the future. To me that was uplifting. What was a little tough for me to grasp was Annie staying married to Dutch. Even if she didn't divorce him she needed to at least get to a safe place. Which Mark offered in the story. If you like Dee Henderson, Irene Hannon and Anne Patrick then you're sure to like Deadly Ties. It's Book 2 in the Crossroads Crisis Center Series but I must say I didn't feel lost in the story by not having read book one, Forget Me Not. Thank you goes to Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book for my review.